Exclusive: Why Jamie Lee Curtis cried every day on the set of new 'Halloween' sequel

Stepping back onto the Halloween set 40 years after the original movie was enough to bring Jamie Lee Curtis to tears.

But the 59-year-old wasn't crying because masked madman Michael Myers had her in his sights once again. No, the tears Curtis shed were for her character, Laurie Strode -- the teenage babysitter who survived the horrid Halloween massacre in the fictional town of Haddonfield many moons ago.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode in the 1978 original 'Halloween' movie. (Compass International Pictures)

"We made a horror movie 40 years ago for $300,000 dollars in 20 days. It was about an innocent, beautiful, young, smart, capable woman… girl, who had a random act of violence perpetrated against her by Michael Myers," Curtis told 9Honey Celebrity during her promotional visit to Sydney this week.

"What he stole from her was her innocence and her life, because even though she was wounded and able to survive it, the trauma that she's carried has ruined her life. And the reason I started crying was because I was about to walk into that trauma zone."

This new Halloween movie is the 11th film in the franchise but it completely disregards the plot twists and turns of the other nine films, making it a direct sequel to the 1978 original. Curtis said she never thought she would be back in the shoes of Laurie Strode, but after reading the script from director David Gordon Green, the veteran actress saw something the follow-up films in the franchise lacked: integrity.

Because this film wasn't just about senseless slayings and gratuitous gore -- it went deeper and explored the effects a traumatic experience could have on someone's life and that of their loved ones. Someone like Laurie Strode, who for the past 40 years drove away her daughter and granddaughter while she lived in a state of paranoia, convinced that Michael Myers would come for her again.

"There was a definite sense that there was the ability to talk about both the trauma or what had happened to Laurie and then a part of the movie where you get to watch her come through it to a different place," said Curtis.

"She's a damsel in depression is where we meet her. She's a woman who's had her life taken from her and everything she loved. [But] she's changed because she's prepared for him in a way that she was not 40 years ago, and preparation gives you power."

Considering the current climate in Hollywood and the world, where women are taking a stance and sharing their #MeToo stories and #WhyIDidntReport experiences, Curtis' resilient and resourceful portrayal of Laurie Strode couldn't have come at a better time.

"I was crying for her, I was crying for all victims of physical violence, sexual violence [and] oppression," revealed Curtis. "This movie was written before all of the political, sociological, cultural shifts that have taken place, [but] I felt Laurie Strode was the embodiment of all of the trauma that we've been hearing about recently."

It's this perfect blend of sociological and psychological factors that makes this Halloween sequel less trick and more treat for viewers -- and that shows in the box office. The movie pulled in $110 million in its opening weekend alone, it boasts the biggest horror movie opening with a female lead, and the biggest movie opening with a female lead over the age of 55. But for Curtis, Laurie Strode's backstory was the integral part of the movie's record-breaking run.

"Even the term integral means it has integrity. It's about something, and that's why I think a) it is successful and b) why I wanted to be a part of it."